


The Cat Crept In

by Lacrimula_Falsa



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Witchcraft, Cat Tony Stark, Familiars, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Magic, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Tony Stark Bingo, Tony Stark Bingo 2019, Witch!Steve, Witches, familiar!Tony, well at least it's implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-05 00:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20480291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacrimula_Falsa/pseuds/Lacrimula_Falsa
Summary: There where two things that had always made Tony's existence needlessly difficult: his big heart and his insatiable curiosity. Never had that been more apparent than when he not only became butstayedthe familiar of an unbelievably incompetent witch. [Written for Tony Stark Bingo 2019. AU, complete.]





	The Cat Crept In

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Menatiera](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menatiera/gifts).

> **Disclaimer:** I do not own any part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nor any other Marvel franchise. Written for fun, not for profit.
> 
> Written for Tony Stark Bingo 2019, filling the “Cat!Tony” square on my card. This is a fantasy AU of my own making, so I'm playing havoc with all sorts of magic lore here. 
> 
> A big thank you to _Menatiera_ for giving me the idea for a witch/familiar AU!

There hadn't been another living sentient being inside the old Rogers family home in years.

So when one not only showed up but actually put out a summoning circle, Tony was naturally intrigued.

Laboriously shuffling more of his energies from the Yonder to the mortal plane (which was a stupid thing to call a plane of existence that housed a rather large number of not-mortal beings, but names were idiotic like that sometimes), Tony gently poked the magic sigil.

Well. Perhaps calling it a ' _ summoning _ circle' had been somewhat too generous. It was more of a “maybe someone would like to come in?” circle.

The warded kind, at least, which combined with the still surprisingly intact wards surrounding the house meant that the place wouldn't be crawling with too much undesirable company despite the figurative open barn door drawn onto the floor in blue chalk.

The living sentient being turned out to be a witch.

A tiny witch with blonde hair and the brightest aura of magic Tony had ever seen.

It was, in a word,  _ blinding _ . Even though Tony didn't currently have eyes.

Interesting. Not interesting enough to leave the Yonder, but interesting enough to keep a (figurative) eye on.

Tony heaved the rest of his energies onto the mortal plane and settled in to observe.

* * *

The next day the witch left out a saucer of milk and added a few symbols to the... _ summoning  _ circle. Ahem. The circle. That technically still wasn't summoning anything. 

_Semantics._

And  _ oh _ , those symbols were even more interesting than the little witch's blindingly bright magic.

Tony poked at the symbol in the middle, feeling a shiver creep through his ethereal form.

The witch was looking for a familiar.

Well. Tony might be curious, but a being of his age and power could hardly be summoned with a saucer of milk, blindingly bright magic or no.

How sad. This might have actually been interesting. But he had a reputation to lose.

Tony withdrew from the circle. He just hoped the milk wouldn't spoil and attract goblins.

– – –

Two days and two saucers of milk later, the witch put down a saucer containing a tiny fish.

Tony poked at it in mild interest.

_Huh._

The witch had actually killed it. Recently. The fish's ghost was still clinging to its mortal shell, swimming around the air in confusion.

Deciding to be benevolent, Tony nudged it towards the Light. The little fish quietly passed over.

Leaving Tony faced with its tiny silvery body and quite the dilemma.

On one hand, this tiny fish was still too paltry an offering to summon a being of Tony's...status. On the other hand, not eating the remains of a creature that had been killed with the sole purpose of being a sacrifice was incredibly disrespectful. And while Tony didn't exactly have to fear the post-mortal wrath of a wronged...sprat? (He wasn't sure.), Tony definitely took his respect for all life seriously.

What kind of familiar was the witch hoping to attract with that tiny morsel anyway? A witch possessing magic that bright could have commanded a whole army of demons, instead of using chalk and table scraps to try and summon...

Tony brushed the thought away. Better not to insult  _ any _ creature by finishing that sentence.

He glanced back at the body of the tiny...sardine? in consternation.

_Oh, damn it._

Coursing his tendency to become a bleeding heart the moment something cute and tiny was involved, Tony gathered his energies next to the saucer-with-dead-fish.

_That witch better be worth climbing into a body for._

* * *

Tony cautiously opened one eye.

He was very close to the floor.

He blinked his other eye open.

The colours of the mortal plane were a bit duller than he remembered them, which might be because of his new eyes. And he had...

Tony counted.

...five limbs.

And one of them was a tail! Tony wiggled his rump in delight. He loved tails.

_Excellent._

Oh, his hearing was great too. There were mice under the floorboards. He could hear six or seven of them. Rotating his ears to follow sounds made for an interesting sensation.

Tony examined his furry new body as best he could.

A cat. He was a cat. With very sleek fur.

Well. He had been aiming for a body that would let him enjoy the fish, after all, figuring that that was the least he could do to honour the little minnow. No use in eating a sacrifice he couldn't digest.

Tony sighed a little. He was going to miss flight. Oh well.

He delicately bent down to eat the fish.

Then he promptly had to hack it back up when he remembered too late that cats couldn't really chew.

He sent a silent apology to wherever spirits went after passing the Light, then tried again.

Eating in his new body: accomplished.

The fish didn't actually taste that great. It had probably been in the heat too long.

* * *

Tony decided to test his new body a little before confronting the witch. It wouldn't do to make an idiot of himself by falling over his own tail or something. No second chance at a first impression and all that.

He found out that a cat's body was excellent for climbing, pouncing and stretching, that cat fur felt  _ horrible _ when it got wet and that he wasn't a fan of cleaning himself with his tongue.

_Hairs. So many hairs. Blegh._

He decided that the witch could make up for the paltry initial sacrifice by brushing him daily.

He also found out that his tail was huge and overly fluffy compared to the rest of him. And that it itched.

Appalled at the thought of his new body potentially having  _ parasites _ , Tony parked his newly furry bottom in a well-lit area and set about examining every inch of his tail for the cause of the irritating sensation.

A visual examination yielded no results, likely because his vision in this body was somewhat limited when it came to shades of colour.

He'd just started to consider the entirely unappealing option of licking the fluffy appendage to find out more, holding it still with a paw, when the tip of his tail... _ split _ .

Tony watched in fascination as his tail peeled itself apart, splitting in three from the tip down, all the way to the base. Which had suddenly stopped itching.

He blinked.

_Well, this is embarrassing._

He'd apparently been so delighted by his new tail that he'd materialised two spare ones while this body had still been malleable. Whoops.

* * *

Only briefly deterred by his unnatural number of limbs, Tony spent two more days lounging around the house and taking his new body for a spin. Which mostly meant leaping around the furniture, enjoying his acute hearing and basking in the sun falling through the windows, which felt amazing on his fur.

Then his new stomach started working properly and reminded him of its existence.

Eh. It had probably been rude to keep the witch waiting so long anyway.

Tony sauntered past the magic sigil, sweeping away part of the circle with his paw.

_There. We have a Pact now._

Then he set his (extremely sensitive and useful!) new nose to the ground to sniff out the whereabouts of his witch.

* * *

He found the witch in the kitchen, preparing food.

Deciding to forego a formal and stately introduction in favour of eliminating the gnawing pit in his stomach as fast as possible, he hopped onto the counter and meowed, keeping his three tails politely tucked together in order to take up less space.

“Meow.”

_Hello._

The witch yelped and smacked him in the face with a sandwich.

Tony blinked slowly, licking mayonnaise off his whiskers.

Not bad. Would taste better with less pepper though.

The witch cautiously came closer, holding the sandwich aloft as if planning to use it as a weapon.

Tony raised a judgemental eyebrow. Or whatever passed for an eyebrow in a cat.

_Not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, my witch._

He meowed forgivingly.

At least nobody was around to see his new Pact-taker make an idiot of himself. They could work on the whole involuntary 'village oaf' act later.

“Oh. You're a cat.”

Tony 'chrrrrp'-ed in the back of his throat.

_Oh, he's a genius._

“Sorry little fella. You startled me a bit.”

The witch finally put the sandwich down.

“Or you could be a little lady, I guess.”

Tony inclined his head, mourning his inability to grin in this form.

_No, no, definitely male._

(He had checked. His genitals had  _ barbs _ . That had been an unpleasant thing to discover by tongue.)

“Do you, uh, have an owner?”

An  _ owner?! _

Tony bristled in offence, fur puffing up. What the Yonder kind of question was that!?

“RRRRReooooow!”

The witch blinked, expression suddenly turning mournful.

“Oh. Sorry. I didn't want to hit a nerve.”

Tony relaxed with great effort, fur going back down.

_We'll work on the manners too._

The witch offered him the sandwich, which was so-so as far as apologies went.

After Tony had devoured it while the witch assembled another one, the witch tentatively stuck out a hand.

_Finally._

Tony stuck his head under the proffered limb, closing his eyes as new knowledge rushed into his mind.

His witch was named Steve Rogers, had been the worst student in his Magic 101 class ( _ What the hell was that and how the heck could a witch with this much power be bad at magic? _ ), loved drawing and his mother ( _ That was sweet. _ ), had a best friend named Bucky who was a werewolf and...

Steve took his hand away.

_Oh. Shy, are we?_

Tony opened his eyes. Well. He could learn more about his witch the human way, he supposed. Or the cat way, as it stood.

“Mwreep.”

Steve was blinking at his hand in confusion.

“Weird,” he said.

Tony chirped in agreement.

_Yes, that takes some getting used to._

Steve stuck his hand out again, just to pet him this time. Tony graciously allowed him to get a few ear scratches in ( _ Ooooh, nice. _ ) before hopping off the counter and winding around his witch's ankles while Steve ate the second sandwich.

This close the magic was almost enough to make him sneeze.

_Glorious._

Tony found himself purring despite his best intentions of looking calm and aloof.

He tentatively decided to like Steve unless the witch did something unforgivably stupid.

* * *

Tony liked Steve for exactly three days and nine hours, which the witch mostly spent reading, feeding Tony, petting Tony and otherwise not doing anything terribly exciting.

Then Steve did something unforgivably stupid.

The idiot witch opened the summoning circle. Completely.

Tony fought off three low-level demons, shooed a confused ghost into the Light, scratched out the eyes of a goblin, took the tail of a night-mare and bit a wraith half to death when it wouldn't buzz off because at that point he was  _ pissed _ .

Tony swiped his tails over the remains of the chalk again just to be safe. He'd apologize to the wraith later if he could still find it then.

For now, he had a witch to rip to shreds.

“ **MMMMMREEEEEEEOWWWWW!!!** ”

At the sound of Tony using his tiny cat lungs to their full potential, Steve skidded into the parlour on socked feet.

Tony launched himself at his witch claws first.

“Aaah!”

Steve fell over like a sack of rice.

What followed were several moments of mayhem filled with Tony screaming, clawing and biting at Steve and telling him in loud meows and screeches what an idiot he was, while Steve screamed too and tried to push his irate familiar away.

“Ow, ow! Get off! Insane cat, what is  _ wrong _ with you?! Ow!”

Tony blinked, momentarily distracted from trying to take a bite out of Steve's arm.

_Cat?_

Tony went limp, hanging from Steve's forearm by one of his paws and his teeth.

_Oh, my stars._

He unclasped his jaw from Steve's arm and unhooked his claws, dropping to the floor.

His witch stared at him, blood dripping from various familiar-inflicted injurious, with an utterly betrayed look on his face.

“What's gotten into you! Do you have rabies!? Oh, my stars please don't have rabies."

“Mrrrew-eep?”

_Can you hear me?_

“Oh my... I have to call someone, don't I? Uh, where's my...no I left my mobile...Damn, wasn't there a landline here some-”

“MRRREEEOOOOW!”

_HELLO!_

The witch kept aimlessly wandering around the room, clutching his injuries and muttering to himself.

Tony sat down, stunned.

His witch couldn't hear him. Or, well, Steve could clearly  _ hear _ him but  _ understanding _ him was another matter entirely.

_Well, crud._

There where two things that had always made Tony's existence needlessly difficult: his big heart and his insatiable curiosity.

And a witch who couldn't understand their familiar was most curious indeed.

He might be sticking with this incompetent witch after all.

_ **Crash!** _

…

Unless the fool managed to kill himself looking for a phone.

**Author's Note:**

> And that's it, folks. Yes, I know I left this in medias res but this was only supposed to be a short something for TSB and then it grew a bit of plot, whoops. If I piqued your interest, drop me a comment and I might just be tempted into a sequel. ;) Comments are awesome and brighten my day.
> 
> Trivia: This fic was originally named “Cat Crept In” with no (conscious) relation to the song by Mud, but then I decided if the tune fits... *jazz hands*
> 
> My master post for this round of Tony Stark Bingo can be found here: https://lacrimula-falsa.dreamwidth.org/6404.html.


End file.
